The dirtiest cities in the world in terms of ecology. The most polluted cities in the world 10 most environmentally polluted cities

Reading time: 13 min.

A powerful breakthrough in the development and growth of the number of enterprises in the ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, chemical, oil and petrochemical, processing, and coal mining industries, on the one hand, increased people’s living standards, and on the other, made their lives much more dangerous in terms of health and the environment. The constant increase in the number of diseases is a direct result of the negative consequences of the activities of industrial giants. The growing flow of cars everywhere, whose exhaust into the atmosphere only reduces the percentage of normal air, also makes its sad “mite” to this process.

The implementation of an environmental regulation system is scheduled for 2019. But, as you know, we have a “huge distance” from the adoption of laws and decisions to their action and results. Enterprise managers economize on the introduction of progressive methods for purifying various emissions, so a huge number of different compounds, heavy metals, acid-containing substances continue to enter the atmosphere, which settle on the surface of houses, plants, get into the water, in a word, literally poison our lives .

Environmentalists have been sounding the alarm for a long time and are openly saying that soon it will be mortally dangerous to live in many industrial cities of Russia, among which there are both giants and small ones in terms of population. And the fact that the situation is critical is also evidenced by the behavior of the Ministry of Nature, which for the first time in 2018 published its list of environmentally unfavorable cities in Russia.

There are only slight differences in the list of cities and in what place each of them is in this sad ranking. In general, the existing data are almost identical. And repeating cities is not as scary as adding new ones, which only makes the situation worse.

Chita

Chita has been on this list for more than one year. The city is quite small in population - about 350 thousand people, and the problem of pollution is one of the most acute, and one of the reasons is cars.

Chita is surrounded by hills, its buildings are dominated by high-rise buildings, while the city is located in a basin, which impedes air circulation. Despite frequent and strong winds, in winter a dense layer of smog hangs over Chita.

The situation is also aggravated by outdated thermal power plants, which, like the city’s boiler houses, run on coal and fuel oil. And although boiler houses are supposedly switching to modern types of fuel, nothing has really changed yet: a terrible dirty-brown smog hangs over the city, cut through by black smoke exhausts from a hydroelectric power station.

Chelyabinsk

The very tense environmental situation in the city is due to the presence of numerous industrial enterprises here. They are located both in the city itself and outside it. The air has long been dominated by various chemicals that are not suitable for normal breathing - these are waste products of industrial giants.

Everything is aggravated by the fact that there is no wind in Chelyabinsk. Of course, there is a slight breeze, but mostly there is complete calm. Naturally, the air masses do not mix, and all the emissions from the chimneys of enterprises accumulate in the lower layers of the atmosphere - all residents, young and old, have to breathe this “cocktail”.

Another problem in Chelyabinsk is the long-overflowing city landfill, which at the end of the last century had exhausted its capacity. It periodically catches fire in the summer, adding its own portion of the hellish mixture to the air. Yes, and it’s better not to swim in the surrounding bodies of water.

Omsk

To understand how tragic the environmental situation is in this Siberian city, suffice it to say that for several years now it has been among the top five Russian cities with the highest rates of cancer. By the way, the largest cancer center in Siberia is also located in Omsk

The reasons are the same - in Omsk there are many industrial enterprises that are located in the city itself. An additional problem is the poultry farm, due to which the townspeople cannot simply ventilate their apartments. True, there are no factories in the central part of the city, but there are many cars that pollute the air with their exhaust.

The million-plus city also has a problem with landfills. Of the three testing grounds, one remains - the other two are closed. Well, the handsome Irtysh is not encouraging - swimming in it is dangerous: there is a complete guarantee of becoming infected with some kind of bacteria.

But in the last few years, measures have been taken in Omsk to reduce the amount of harmful emissions into the atmosphere: since 2010, filters have been installed at thermal stations that capture particles from smoke. Plant equipment is also being modernized.

Norilsk

The city's only salvation from the smog that the mining and metallurgical concern regularly provides is a strong wind. It partially carries away emissions from Norilsk Nickel, but this is hampered by three mountain ranges that surround the city in an almost continuous ring. And around the city there are leafless coniferous forests, the cover of which has been burned by acid rain. The water is colored turquoise-green, but there is nothing to rejoice at - the reason is the increased content of copper sulfate in it. There is no flora or fauna left in the lakes.

Norilsk is one of the dirtiest cities in Russia. Located beyond the Arctic Circle, it could be interesting in terms of excursions, but they don’t risk going here even for a short time. There is a high percentage of upper respiratory tract diseases among residents. Life expectancy is much lower than in the country.

Novokuznetsk

Another industrial giant, traditionally located in Siberia. A beautiful picture from the point of view of the landscape would appear to our eyes - the city is surrounded by mountains covered with forests. But there is nothing to be happy about - because of this, smog hangs over Novokuznetsk, which is caused by emissions from cars and the industrial complexes of the city.

Hundreds of thousands of tons of harmful components poison the atmosphere every year. City dwellers are forced to breathe all this, since there is practically no natural “ventilation”, just as there are no normal catch filters. Therefore, about 80% of all emissions easily end up in the air. There is also a problem with waste disposal in the city - landfills are overcrowded, so the number of spontaneous dumps is growing.

Nizhny Tagil

Enterprises in Nizhny Tagil, including the YouTube-famous Uralvagonzavod, poison both the air and water sources by dumping waste water there.

But with regard to this city, it must be said that it, the only one in the Sverdlovsk region, was tasked by the May Presidential Decree to reduce the amount of harmful emissions by at least 20%. Environmentalists note that plant owners, whether they like it or not, are following the instructions. To maintain environmental stability, the budget should allocate not 0.02%, as is the case, but at least 3%.

It must be said that the situation is no longer as dire as it was in the 90s. Many enterprises have ceased to exist, but those that remain still strive to comply with the requirements for ensuring environmental well-being.

Magnitogorsk

In the second largest city in the Chelyabinsk region, environmental hazards are mainly determined by the iron ore plant. The list of emissions includes compounds and substances that do not belong in the air. Their concentration in the atmosphere exceeds the norm by 10-20 times. We must pay tribute to the plant management, which is taking measures to reduce these indicators.

The Urals flowing by also suffer, from which water is taken for production and then returned. But despite the filters, this is not the same water at all, and it is better not to catch fish from the river.

The left bank suffers the most, so the city government decided to build residential buildings only on the right bank and gradually move people there from the left bank. There are plans to build small satellite cities in the forest part - this will cost much more economically than modernizing Magnitogorsk.

Lipetsk

The main problem of Lipetsk is located within the city - its metallurgical plant, the third largest in terms of production in Russia. Every year it poisons the atmosphere with more than thousands of tons of harmful substances.

Although the residential sector is located on the right bank of the Voronezh River, when the south-east wind blows, the waste products of the plant, along with the terrible smell of hydrogen sulfide, “besiege” the apartments of the unfortunate Lipetsk residents.

Someone’s nighttime activities also add negativity, because in the city there is a reinforced concrete plant, a cement plant, a machine tool factory and a number of other enterprises of national importance. Some of them regularly poison the night air with another portion of harmful substances, significantly exceeding permissible standards.

Cars were not left out either. About one third of all emissions come from their tailpipes.

All this prompted concerned citizens of Lipetsk to introduce a system of constant air quality monitoring. Lipetsk is so far the only city in the country where this has been implemented, and Lipetsk residents are also working to modernize traffic in the city in order to reduce harmful emissions. True, not everyone believes in what will be done. They say it’s only to “cut” the budget, because there are no results yet.

But unlike other environmentally unfavorable Russian cities, underground springs have been preserved in Lipetsk. Industry activity did not affect them.

Krasnoyarsk

According to scientists, Krasnoyarsk has 70 years left to live - this is the sad result of its industrial activity. The city has long crossed the red line of environmental safety. If nothing changes for the better during this time, then staying in Krasnoyarsk is the same as burying yourself alive.

The concentration of harmful substances in Krasnoyarsk has long exceeded all permissible standards. In February 2018, the entire city was enveloped in yellow fog. Anyone suffering from one or another respiratory disease was not recommended to go outside - the content of harmful compounds in this fog was simply off the charts.

Krasnoyarsk also has its own sad “phenomenon”, which residents call “black sky”. It can be observed regularly, and although its color is rather gloomy gray, it seems to be very close to black.

Well, the culprits are traditional - one of the industrial giants of the region, the aluminum complex, thermal stations, car exhausts. Separately, it is necessary to say about the human factor - the greed of the managers of large enterprises and private industries, where they continue to burn with cheap coal. And soot settles not only on roofs, windows, walls of houses, not only on the ground and on plants, but also in people’s lungs.

Progress gives the world innovative technologies. Opportunities and objects constantly appear that make life more convenient and dynamic. But there is a reverse, negative side - the most polluted cities in the world. Increasing the extraction of raw materials, increasing the scale of production and reducing its cost is detrimental to the environment. The ratings presented in this article will tell you where on earth it is dangerous to live.

Pollution assessment criteria

WHO and UNESCO are engaged in statistics of unfavorable ecology on the planet.

For this, the following criteria are used:

• the percentage of hazardous substances in the air, as well as in water and soil, among the most dangerous to health, such as mercury, arsenic, lead, hydrocyanic acid, mustard gas and phosgene;
• the duration of the decay period of toxic substances;
• number of population and births;
• proximity of the city to the source of pollution;
• level of radioactive contamination;
• the impact of industrial emissions on children's development.

Based on these factors, a rating of the most polluted places on the planet has been compiled. The study of populated areas was carried out for each category. And then the total indicators were determined using a scale specially developed for this statistics.

Top 10 most polluted places on the planet

According to statistics from the US analytical company MercerHuman, the list of the 10 most polluted cities in the world looks like this:

1. Linfen - in China.
2. Tian Yin - in China.
3. Sukinda - in India.
4. Vapi - in India.
5. La Oroya is in Peru.
6. Dzerzhinsk - in Russia.
7. Norilsk - in Russia.
8. Chernobyl - in Ukraine.
9. Sumgait - in Azerbaijan.
10. Kabwe is in Zambia.

Settlements with a high level of environmental danger:

• Bayos de Haina - in the Dominican Republic;
• Mailu Suu - in Kyrgyzstan;
• Ranipet - in India;
• Rudnaya Pristan - in Russia;
• Dalnegorsk - in Russia;
• Volgograd - in Russia;
• Magnitogorsk - in Russia;
• Karachay is in Russia.

The most environmentally polluted city on the planet is Linfen

Population: 200,000 people. Leads the world in all criteria of environmental pollution. This is the center of the coal mining industry, where in addition to state mines, private and illegal mines operate.

Safety standards are ignored, which leads to an oversaturation of the air in the city and its surroundings with coal dust, organic chemicals, lead and carbon. The result of exposure to these substances is the progression of bronchopulmonary diseases - pneumonia, asthma, bronchitis, malignant tumors.

Other polluted cities in the world

It will be interesting to get acquainted with the settlements that have been awarded the title of the most polluted places on the planet.

Tianying

It is called the heart of China's metallurgy. There are many large industrial enterprises located in the city, which emit dust, gas and heavy metal oxides into the atmosphere. Large-scale lead mining operations are taking place in the surrounding area. Due to thick bluish smoke, there is no visibility at a distance of 10 meters. The soil, air and water are saturated with lead fumes. Vegetables and signs grown in nearby areas contain 20 times the lead limit. This critical situation leads to the development of brain pathologies. A large number of children are born with symptoms of dementia in the region.

Near Sukinda there are chromium mines. This metal, widely used in production, is recognized as one of the most dangerous carcinogens. It has an extremely adverse effect on local residents, provoking gene mutations and rapidly progressing cancer.

The Government of India has not taken effective measures to reduce chromium concentrations in water and soil. Sewage treatment plants in this region are under development.

Vapi

A heavily polluted city in India is Vapi, which has a population of 71,000 people. Its proximity to a large industrial zone makes it life-threatening. In the surrounding area there are many factories and plants for chemical and metallurgical purposes, emitting tons of harmful substances into the atmosphere. The main one is mercury, the content of which in the soil exceeded the figure by 100 times. The current situation has become deadly for the residents of the region.

The average life expectancy here is only 35-40 years.

La Oroya

A polymetallic plant has been operating in the Peruvian town of La Oroya since 1922. Its periodic emissions contain high concentrations of lead, sulfur dioxide, copper and zinc. This caused severe illness among local residents, who number 35,000.

Acid rain caused the entire area to become dry and lifeless, devoid of vegetation. In 2009, the Peruvian government proposed a plan for a radical reconstruction of enterprises with a suspension of production for five years.

Russian Dzerzhinsk with a population of 300 thousand was included in the Guinness Book of Records in 2003. Received the title of the dirtiest city in the world. The critical situation was caused by the burial of chemicals, which lasted from 1938 to 1998. The total volume of deadly substances amounted to 300,000 tons, that is, one ton for each resident.

Soil and groundwater contain critical levels of phenol, exceeding the upper norm by 17 million times. At the moment, cleanup work in Dzerzhinsk is at the planning stage.

Norilsk

The population of this Russian city is 180 people. It is closed to foreigners. One of the largest metallurgical plants on the planet has been operating in Norilsk for several decades. Every year, up to 4 million tons of chemicals are released into the environment, including lead, arsenic, copper, selenium and zinc. Because of this, there is almost no vegetation and insects here.

Cleanup work has been carried out in Norilsk for 10 years. The environmental situation is gradually improving, however, the safe level of concentration of chemicals is still above the norm.

In the Ukrainian city of Chernobyl on April 26, 1986, the world's worst nuclear tragedy occurred - the explosion of a nuclear power plant. All residents were evacuated. Territory over 150,000 sq. m. was under the influence of a radioactive cloud consisting of the evaporation of heavy metals, uranium, pluton, iodine and strontium.

The radiation level in the exclusion zone carries a mortal danger. This area is empty to this day.

Sumgayit

Under the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan's Sumgayit occupied a central place in the chemical industry. Due to constant emissions of mercury and petroleum products, the city with a population of 285 thousand has become practically uninhabitable.

Kabwe

Near the Zambian city of Kabwe, large deposits of lead were discovered more than a century ago. Since then, active mining of this mineral has been carried out. The local population is 250,000 people. From lead mine sites, hazardous waste is constantly spreading into the air, soil and groundwater. This causes pathologies of internal organs, muscle atrophy and severe blood poisoning.

Bayos de Haina

It is a small city in the Dominican Republic with a population of 85,000 people. A factory specializing in the production of car batteries poses a danger to health and life here. Lead emissions into the atmosphere exceed standard levels by four times. The consequence of this is congenital mutations and mental disorders.

Mailu-Suu

In the city of Mailu-Suu, located in Kyrgyzstan, during 1948-1968. uranium was mined. These days, radiation levels are 10 times higher than standard levels. The reason for the critical situation in the city and its surroundings is the burial grounds with hazardous substances. Contrary to the warnings of scientists, they were built in zones of increased seismological danger. Due to earthquakes and landslides, burial sites are destroyed. The United States of America is involved in solving this problem. Work is underway.

The polluted cities discussed in the article pose an environmental threat to the entire planet. Toxic components are distributed due to air cyclones, soil migration and the natural water cycle. The problem requires an urgent solution at the global level.

We all tend to complain about our own lives, about the conditions and place where we live. Have you ever thought that there are people whose lives are much worse and more difficult than yours? This is worth thinking about at least once in your life. Today we will share with you the top 10 rating dirtiest cities in the world. These cities are not only unpleasant to be in, but also pose a high risk to life. But people still live there. Now you will have the opportunity to see from the outside the living conditions of some people. This will help you understand how to live well in cleanliness and order.

We will tell you about the most polluted cities in the world and reveal to you the reasons why they became so. Sometimes it’s even difficult to imagine that people can really exist in such conditions. These are not all places, but only some of the most unsightly places on our planet. Well, it's time to start. For the faint of heart, as they say, please leave.

10.Rudnaya Pristan, Russia

The Russian city opens the ranking with the dirtiest cities in the world. It is estimated that approximately 90 thousand people are considered potentially infected. And all because of harmful substances such as mercury, lead and cadmium, which pollute everything around. These substances are contained in everything that a person needs: drinking water, fauna and soil. As a result, local residents cannot fully obtain the necessary water or grow crops; this is simply dangerous to their health. Even the blood of local children contains many dangerous substances that exceed the norm by an unacceptable number of times. But it doesn't get any better. Every year the scale of pollution increases.

In this area there is a large tannery engaged in tanning and dyeing leather. Chromium salts, sodium chromate and other harmful substances are used to operate the plant, and subsequently tons of hazardous waste, instead of being eliminated and disposed of, end up in groundwater. Drinking water, groundwater and soil become unusable, which not only makes people sick, but also causes many deaths. However, local farmers continue to work on contaminated soil, irrigating their crops with contaminated water.

Norilsk is a city in which there is a huge number of plants and factories where heavy metals are melted. As a result, harmful substances such as nickel, strontium, copper, etc. constantly hovering in the air. You won't envy the city's residents. Snow, more like mud, and the air tasted of sulfur. But this is not the worst thing. Mortality is increased, life expectancy is much lower than the national average, and almost everyone here has illnesses. Foreign tourists no longer come to Norilsk, because even a short stay in this city can affect your well-being, making it very difficult to recover later.

7. Mailuu-Suu, Kyrgyzstan

In the immediate vicinity of this settlement there is a huge burial site of radioactive substances. The radiation level in these places exceeds the norm tens of times. Since landslides and floods caused by earthquakes, as well as rainstorms and mudflows are common in this area, hazardous substances will spread across the region with the speed of lightning. As a result, local and nearby residents suffer from cancer.

Although Linfen is not the dirtiest city in the world, it probably has the worst environmental situation in the country. There are harmful substances in the air such as lead, carbon, ash, etc. The content of these substances has long exceeded all permissible standards. We can say that the Chinese themselves are to blame for this. Everyone knows that the country is in dire need of coal, so hundreds of mines, sometimes illegal and completely unregulated, are being created throughout the territory. Alas, the city of Linfen has become a kind of mine. As a result, people suffer and suffer from severe and incurable diseases.

This small mining town has long been exposed to toxic emissions released into the atmosphere due to the work of the local plant. The blood of local children contains amounts of lead that have long exceeded all norms. As a result, children are forced to suffer from serious illnesses. But the vegetation in this city has long been forgotten. Everything that once grew here was destroyed by acid rain.

In the last century, rich deposits of lead were discovered in this city. The air is so polluted with heavy metals that the standards are exceeded 4 times. Residents are reaping the dire consequences of hazardous substances entering their bodies: vomiting, diarrhea, blood poisoning, chronic kidney disease and even muscle atrophy.

3.Haina, Dominican Republic

A factory producing car batteries is located in this area. The waste from this plant is very dangerous because it contains a very high lead content. The amount of this substance is so critical that it exceeds the norm not several times, not even tens, but thousands of times! It's hard to even imagine. The most common diseases in this area are congenital deformities, mental disorders and eye diseases.

This city was once a center for the production of chemical weapons. Afterwards, tons of chemical waste were illegally written off and dumped into groundwater. People in this city do not live to old age. Men, at best, live up to 42 years, and women a little longer - up to 47 years. According to estimates, the mortality rate in Dzerzhinsk has long exceeded the birth rate by 2.6 times. The forecast is not the most optimistic. It’s sad that our country ranks 3rd in the top ten dirtiest cities in the world.

1.Chernobyl, Ukraine

Chernobyl takes 1st place in the ranking and receives the title the dirtiest city in the world. There is probably no person on earth who has not heard about the disaster that occurred in Chernobyl. During tests at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the reactor core melted and a terrible explosion occurred. As a result, 30 people died immediately on the spot. 135 thousand people were evacuated. Since then, no one has lived in the city. We also remember about the bombs that were once dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and so the explosion that occurred in Chernobyl entailed a hundred times greater release of radioactive substances. This tragedy will forever remain in the hearts and memories of people. And the consequences of this accident are visible to this day.

The dirtiest city in the world | Video

More than 500,000 bacteria live on a keyboard within one square centimeter. This happens because people, when sitting down at a computer or laptop, don’t even think about washing their hands. Everything you bring from the street settles in a dense layer on the keyboard. Add to this the trapped dust and crumbs. The result is an ideal breeding ground for pathogenic microbes.

What to do

Firstly, every time you come home. Secondly, thoroughly clean your keyboard at least once a week. You can do it more often if you are not the only user of the device.

Unplug the keyboard, turn it over and, gently tapping the back side, knock out any dirt stuck between the buttons. You can use a regular hair dryer to blow out dust and debris. Use tweezers as an aid.

Then prepare a weak soap solution (dilute a few drops of detergent in a glass of water). You can wipe the keys and the space between them with a lint-free cloth or a clean toothbrush. After the procedure, wipe the keyboard with a dry cloth.

2. Mobile phones

During the day, a cell phone ends up in many dirty places: it lies in a pocket where money has just been taken out, or on a desktop that always has no time to wipe. People pick up the phone with unwashed hands after leaving the store, metro, or public transport. In a word, he carries a huge number of all kinds of microbes per day.

What to do

Be sure to do a full cell phone exercise once a week. Designate a special place for it in your purse, purse or backpack. Wipe your smartphone with special cleaning wipes as often as possible.

At home, take a microfiber cloth, apply a few drops of antibacterial hand liquid to it, and then wipe down your mobile device. To keep your phone as clean as possible, use the headset outdoors and in public places.

3. Drainage hole in the sink

The sink siphon is the most favorable environment for the growth of bacteria. As a rule, housewives pay attention to its condition when the drain becomes clogged or an unpleasant odor appears.

What to do

Prepare a special solution and pour the resulting mixture into the drainage hole for 20–30 minutes. First, wrap a rag in plastic and plug the drain with it. The solution can be prepared in several ways:

• Dilute one teaspoon of baking soda in ½ cup of hot water.
• Mix ½ cup of white vinegar 3-9% and a teaspoon of lemon juice.
• Mix ½ cup of white vinegar 3-9% and a teaspoon of soda.

The accumulated fatty deposits are cleaned with a saturated salt solution (3 tablespoons of salt per 1 glass of hot water). After cleaning, rinse the drain with a powerful stream of hot water.

Try to keep the kitchen clean. Change sponges and towels more often, wash refrigerator handles and use five separate cutting boards for meat, fish, cooked foods, and bread.

4. Toothbrush

A toothbrush can become a source of reproduction for more than 100 million bacteria that are dangerous to the body. And this is absolutely natural, because we brush our teeth every day, removing plaque and food debris. After some time, the brush literally becomes overgrown with bacteria.

What to do

Once every three months, toothbrushes must be replaced with new ones and stored in an upright position.

To disinfect, you can dip the brush in a mouthwash that contains alcohol for 30 seconds. You can also immerse it in boiling water for a couple of minutes or wash it in the dishwasher by placing it on the top shelf. After use, rinse the brush with hot water.

5. Keys

The surface of keys contains as much bacteria as an elevator call button. We never wipe our keys and always take them with dirty hands. They fall in the entrance or on the street, are stored in dirty pockets and bring an incredible amount of infectious bacteria into the house. Some give them to children as toys, which is unacceptable and dangerous for the child’s health.

What to do

As soon as you get home, first wash your hands and then thoroughly wipe your keys (including your car) with antiseptic wipes. Make it a rule to keep your keys in a key holder to avoid spreading bacteria throughout your home.

6. Wallet and money

On average, one banknote contains about 30,000 bacteria per square centimeter. The older the bill, the more infection it carries: helminths, Koch bacilli, pathogens of tuberculosis and meningitis. By paying with money, people exchange bacteria.

What to do

After each contact with money, wash your hands or wipe them with a special disinfectant . Keep money in your wallet, not in your clothing pockets. Do not leave bills on the dining table, in the hallway, or throw them on the bed or sofa. Choose a permanent place for your wallet and periodically wipe it with antiseptic wipes.

7. Carpets

A square centimeter of ordinary carpet contains 4,000 times more bacteria than the same area of ​​a toilet bowl. The fleecy surface of the carpet becomes an excellent place for the accumulation of all kinds of bacteria, dust mites and particles of dead skin.

What to do

Clean regularly with a vacuum cleaner. To remove stains and dust, dissolve 2 teaspoons of ammonia in 1 liter of water. Clean the carpet with a brush dipped in the mixture. Then ventilate the room and let the carpet dry.

Regular baking soda also does a deep cleaning job on carpets and rugs. It can be used either dry or as a solution (dissolve a tablespoon of soda in a glass of water). Apply the mixture to the carpet and leave for 40 minutes, then vacuum. This way you will not only get rid of dirt, but also update the color of the coating.

8. Hallway

This is where you first bring thousands of germs from the street straight into your apartment. In addition, pets often like to be here, which then spread bacteria onto furniture, tables, window sills and carpets.

What to do

First of all, purchase a special rug for the hallway that will absorb dirt and street dust. Take off your shoes and then move on.

Once a week, the mat should be cleaned with detergent and hot water. Put your shoes in order as soon as you get home. Wipe the floors in the hallway daily with a solution containing any disinfectant.

9. Bathroom curtain

Bacteria multiply more actively in a humid environment. Bathroom curtains are especially susceptible to the ubiquity. But usually they are never cleaned, believing that the soap solution that gets on the curtains is enough for disinfection.

What to do

It is recommended to clean the bathroom curtain once a month. It is better to replace polyethylene curtains with vinyl ones. They are less likely to develop mold. In addition, they can be machine washed at 40 degrees (without spinning or drying). Polyester curtains just need to be wiped with a sponge.

Soak the curtain and fastenings in salt water. This will help get rid of mold. If the curtain is made of water-repellent fabric, it can be soaked in a weak solution of chlorine bleach. Wipe the curtains dry after each use and ventilate the bathroom more often.

10. Dishwasher and washing machine

Despite the fact that both technical means are designed to maintain order and cleanliness, they themselves are a source of germs.

What to do

Once every six months, clean the dishwasher door seal with a specialized product recommended by the manufacturer. To prevent mold from appearing, wipe the chamber, door, seals and coarse filter daily.

Clean the bottom of the car door and the space between the gaskets regularly. After use, leave the dishwasher open until completely dry.

Once a month, wash the drain filter with detergent under running water. Keep the powder tray clean.

To rid your machine of mold and bacteria, occasionally use any oxygen-containing bleach. Or you can wash cotton kitchen towels by pouring 100 milliliters of disinfectant into the powder compartment.

To completely disinfect equipment, you need to thoroughly wash all removable parts (filters, powder tray, drain hose), as well as door seals, at least once a month.

The medal of technological progress also has its downside. It allows people to enjoy things and opportunities unheard of in past centuries, but at the same time, to meet ever-increasing demand, humanity is forced to constantly increase the extraction of raw materials and industrial production. At the same time, everyone strives to make this production as cheap as possible, so concern for the environment is often forgotten, and dirty production destroys literally all living things around. It is therefore not surprising that most of the dirtiest cities are now in the world's manufacturing centers - China and India.

15. Agbogbloshie (Ghana)

This African city is so dirty that it is simply dangerous to live in it. Although such a picture was not always observed: in a matter of years, the ecology of this large Ghanaian city was hopelessly damaged after a dump of electronic waste, the second largest in West Africa, was set up in its swampy semi-desert district. It is known that in addition to lead, electronics contain almost the entire periodic table, and not at all in the form of vitamins. Developed “civilized” countries of the world are happy to send millions of tons of toxic waste here, turning the life of the residents of Agbogblosha into a living hell.

14. Rudnaya Pristan (Russia)

This city is probably the dirtiest in Russia, and it is no coincidence that its 90,000 population are considered potentially poisoned. Everything in the area is contaminated with lead, cadmium and mercury compounds; they have penetrated the soil and groundwater, infecting flora and fauna. Therefore, city residents have nowhere to get clean water to drink or grow vegetables, since any crop can only poison them. The presence of toxic substances in the blood of local children, far exceeding the permissible concentration, has become commonplace. The sad thing is that this situation is only getting worse every year.

At what negative temperature can you not take your children to school or kindergarten, and, perhaps, not even go to work? People living in different...

13. Ranipet (India)

The area is home to a large leather industry involved in the dyeing and tanning of leather. Such production uses chromium compounds and other toxic substances, which, instead of proper disposal, are simply dumped in the area, polluting groundwater. As a result, both the land and water here become unusable. Local residents not only get sick from all this, but also die en masse. And local peasants, despite this, continue to cultivate the poisoned land, watering it with poisoned water and spreading the poison more and more.

12. Mailuu-Suu (Kyrgyzstan)

Not far from this Kyrgyz town there is a large burial site of radioactive waste, so the level of radiation everywhere in these places is off the charts. The choice of location for the radioactive dump was criminally irresponsible - landslides caused by earthquakes are common here, and heavy rains cause floods and mudslides. All this extracts radionuclides to the surface and quickly spreads throughout the surrounding area. As a result, local residents suffer from cancer in large numbers.

11. Haina (Dominican Republic)

This city is home to the production of car batteries, the waste from which is toxic lead compounds. In the area surrounding the enterprise, the amount of lead exceeds the norm by thousands of times. Hence the specific diseases among the local population: eye diseases, mental disorders, congenital deformities.

10. Kabwe (Zambia)

Kabwe is the second largest city in Zambia and is located 150 kilometers from its capital Lusaka. About a hundred years ago, lead deposits were discovered here, and since then they have been continuously mined, and the waste quietly poisons the local soil, water and air. As a result, within a radius of 10 km from the mines it is dangerous not only to drink local water, but also to simply breathe. And every resident of the area is “stuffed” with a 10-fold dose of lead.

In any country with developed industry, urban pollution becomes an inevitable concomitant problem. There are many such dirty cities in Russia,...

9. Sumgait (Azerbaijan)

In Soviet times, this Azerbaijani city of almost 300,000 people was a very large industrial center: many chemical industries operated here, related to oil refining and the production of fertilizers. However, after the collapse of the Union and the departure of Russian specialists, almost all enterprises were abandoned, and there was no one to reclaim the land and clean up the dirt from the reservoirs.

Recently, the city has been conducting environmental studies to restore it.

8. Chernobyl (Ukraine)

Many people remember the explosion of the 4th power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which occurred on the eve of the May Day holidays in 1986. Then a cloud of radiation covered a vast territory, which even included the neighboring lands of Belarus and Russia. A large exclusion zone had to be created around the reactor, removing all residents from there. Within a few days, Chernobyl turned into a ghost town, in which no one has lived since then. Outwardly, it is now a corner of wild, untouched nature, with the cleanest air, which is not polluted by any production. Except for one invisible enemy - radiation. After all, if you stay here for a long time, you will inevitably get radioactive contamination and cancer.

7. Norilsk (Russia)

The already difficult situation of Norilsk beyond the Arctic Circle was aggravated for its 180,000 inhabitants by the difficult environmental situation. There were once camps here, the prisoners of which built the world's largest metallurgical plant. Every year, from its many pipes, it began to emit millions of tons of various chemicals (lead, copper, cadmium, arsenic, selenium and nickel). In the Norilsk area, no one has been surprised by black snow for a long time; here, like in hell, it always smells of sulfur, and the content of zinc and copper in the atmosphere is also much higher than normal. It is not surprising that Norilsk residents die from respiratory diseases several times more often than residents of other cities in the country. Not a single living tree remained within fifty miles of the factory furnaces.

There are many places on Earth where life was once in full swing, but now only the wind blows. Among them there are cities with quiet empty streets, as if from a film...

6. Dzerzhinsk (Russia)

This city with a population of 300 thousand became the brainchild of the Cold War, so each of its residents received as an inheritance a ton of toxic waste buried near Dzerzhinsk in the period from 1938 to 1998. In groundwater here, the concentration of dioxins and phenol is 17 million times higher than normal. In 2003, this city was even included in the Guinness Book of Records as the dirtiest city in the world, in which the death rate far exceeds the birth rate.

5. La Oroya (Peru)

At the beginning of the last century, American industrialists turned the Peruvian town of La Oroya, located in the foothills of the Andes, into a metallurgical center, where lead, zinc, copper and other metals began to be smelted in large quantities. To reduce the cost of production, environmental issues were simply forgotten. As a result, all the formerly forested surrounding peaks became bald, the earth, air, and water were poisoned with lead, as were the inhabitants themselves, almost all of them suffering from one or another specific disease. All of them, including children, have almost as much lead in their blood as there is in a battery. But the worst thing happened later: when the Americans themselves were horrified by what they had done here and proposed a plan to improve production and land reclamation, involving the temporary closure of all enterprises, the local residents themselves opposed this, fearing being left without work and livelihoods.

4. Vapi (India)

India competes with China in terms of economic growth, so such “little things” as nature conservation and ecology are very often not taken seriously here. The city of Vapi, with a population of 70,000, is located in the southern part of a gigantic industrial zone, stretching for 400 km, generously releasing various exhausts and waste from countless chemical and metallurgical industries into the environment. Local groundwater contains almost 100 times more mercury than normal, and local residents have to breathe air generously flavored with heavy metals.

3. Sukinda (India)

When smelting stainless steel, one of the most important additives is chromium; it is also used in leather tanning. But this metal is a strong carcinogen that enters the body with air or water. A large chromium deposit is being developed near the Indian city of Sukinda, so more than half of the groundwater sources contain a double dose of hexavalent chromium. Its detrimental effect on the health of local residents has already been noted by Indian doctors.

2. Tianying (China)

The city of Tianying, located in northeastern China, is home to one of the country's largest metallurgical centers, producing approximately half of all Chinese lead. The city is constantly shrouded in a bluish haze, and even during the day visibility here remains very weak. But the worst thing is that in pursuit of the speed of obtaining metal, the Chinese did not care about nature. As a result, the land and water here are saturated with lead, which is why local children are born deformed or weak-minded. Bread made from local wheat will probably seem a bit heavy, as it will contain 24 times more of this heavy metal than liberal Chinese law allows.

1. Linfen (China)

The dirtiest city can be called Linfen - the center of coal mining in China. Its residents wake up and go to bed like real miners - with coal on their faces, clothes and bed linen. It is useless to wash the laundry - after drying it outside, it becomes just as black. In addition to carbon, the air here is rich in lead and other toxins. Therefore, local residents here suffer massively from serious illnesses and die in large numbers.